Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct for the Word of Mouth Marketing Association
  - The code was officially updated 9/21/2009. 

WOMMA (the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, of which MeHype is a member) recently updated their Code of Ethics in order to address an upcoming FTC guideline "Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising"(See 16 C.F.R. §§ 255.0–255.5.) You can download a copy of the FTC guidlines here

Preamble

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (“WOMMA”) is an official trade association that represents the interests of the word of mouth and social media industry. WOMMA is committed to building a prosperous industry that is based upon best practices, effective standards, and responsible leadership. A central mission of WOMMA is to create an environment of trust between consumers and marketers. Members of WOMMA seek to enhance the meaningful development of their fellow members, the industry, and their customers, and are committed to compliance with laws and regulations that govern the prevention of unfair, deceptive or misleading marketing practices.

Therefore, members of WOMMA strive to:

Conditions for Membership into WOMMA

To qualify for and maintain a membership in WOMMA, the applicant or Member shall:

Purpose of the Code of Ethics

WOMMA has adopted a Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct as a requirement of membership into the association, with the hope that the Code and Standards reflect an attempt by industry members to “do the right thing” by engaging in responsible self-regulatory efforts concerning their marketing practices. The fulcrum of the Code and Standards is the Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising promulgated by the Federal Trade Commission. See 16 C.F.R. §§ 255.0–255.5.

WOMMA, however, is obviously not an agent or representative of any governmental regulator or law enforcement agency, and its views are not intended to represent any formal or informal interpretations of any laws or regulations.

Standards of Conduct Required of WOMMA Members

Standard 1 – Disclosure of identity:  A WOMMA member shall require their  representatives¹ to make meaningful disclosures of  their relationships or identities with consumers in relation to the marketing initiatives that could influence a consumer’s purchasing decisions.

Standard 2 – Disclosure of consideration or compensation received:  A WOMMA member shall require their representatives to disclose meaningfully and prominently all forms of consideration or compensation they received from the member, marketer or sponsor of the product or service.  In other words, WOMMA members shall not engage in marketing practices where the marketer/sponsor or its representative provides goods, services, or compensation to the consumer (or communicator) as consideration for recommendations, reviews, or endorsements, unless full, meaningful, and prominent disclosure is provided. 

Standard 3 – Disclosure of relationship: A WOMMA member shall require their  representatives involved in a word of mouth initiative to disclose the material aspects of their commercial relationship with a marketer, including the specific type of any remuneration or consideration received.

Standard 4 – Compliance with FTC Guides: A WOMMA member shall comply with the Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising promulgated by the Federal Trade Commission.  See 16 C.F.R. §§ 255.0–255.5. 

Standard 5 – Genuine honesty in communication: A WOMMA member shall not tell their  representatives what to ultimately state in their communications about a particular product or service, so as to enable the consumer to reflect his or her honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences.

Standard 6 – Respect for venue: A WOMMA member shall respect the rights of any online or offline communications venue (such as a web site, blog, discussion forum, traditional media, and live setting) to create and enforce its own rules as it sees fit. 

Standard 7 – Marketing to children and adolescents: A WOMMA member shall not include children under the age of 13 in any of its word of mouth marketing programs or campaigns; and shall comply with all applicable laws dealing with minors and marketing, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”).  See 16 C.F.R. § 312.

Standard 8 – Compliance with media-specific rules: A WOMMA member shall comply with existing media-specific rules regarding marketing to children.

Review of the Code of Ethics

The Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct constitutes a “living document,” that is intended to evolve given the development of new technologies and media and enactment of new laws and regulations.  As a result, WOMMA has adopted two mechanisms for the membership and third parties to comment upon the Code and Standards.

The first mechanism is the annual review process that is announced at the beginning of November each year and which concludes in February of the immediate following year.  It is designed to be transparent and inclusive, seeking thoughtful input and dialogue.

Here is MeHype's contribution to the Living Ethics Blog where WOMMA posed the question: "Should there be a different form of disclosure for receiving cash vs. receiving product to review?"

I don’t think there should be any difference in the disclosure requirements for cash versus product/service. The main issue here (to paraphrase Ted Murphy of Izea) is “value”. If something of value is gained by the consumer who is offering an opinion, in whatever form (verbal, text or visual), then there needs to be disclosure by both the consumer and the brand being represented. To differentiate between cash reward versus product/service reward is irrelevant. - Tyler LeCompte, Director for MeHype

The second mechanism is a review that can be triggered by a petition concerning a specific issue to WOMMA’s Executive Director by three members in good standing.  Specifically, once the petitions by the three members are received, the following steps will occur:

Once the Board’s decision has been announced, there will be a one hundred and eighty (180) day compliance period, which will be clearly set out for the membership.  If any member is unable to comply, the affected member will be asked to resign from the membership.

Enforcement of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct

Any member of WOMMA may be admonished, suspended or expelled for cause due to conduct, acts, or omissions that are contrary to the spirit and letter of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct.  This disciplinary review process is enforced through WOMMA’s Membership Ethics Advisory Panel (“MEAP”), a Board-appointed group that is focused on monitoring the industry, educating WOMMA members on best practices in marketing ethics, and investigating allegations of Code violations.  Specifically, the MEAP is responsible for reviewing (a) prospective member companies who are found in the membership application process to have questionable practices; and (b) allegations of unethical, deceptive, misleading, or unfair practices from current WOMMA members by other members of WOMMA.  It acts in an advisory capacity to the Board of Directors.

MeHype fully supports WOMMA and its membership in it recent decision to address compensation for endorsements (text, audio or video) in any marketing practices by its members or their clients. We look forward to seeing changes in the Word of Mouth Marketing industry in the coming months as these changes and guidelines are adopted.